Sweet Potato Chili, Dried and Rebuilt
A no-bean chili that starts as a slow cooker recipe and ends up in a freezer bag.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 5 oz
- cal / oz
- 124
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 14 min
- water
- 600 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Liquid fuel
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Winter / snow
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Lean ground beef, cooked and dehydrated | 3 oz dry | 90/10 or leaner, or it goes rancid in the bag |
|---|---|---|
| Dried sweet potato dice | 1/2 cup | peeled, cut small, dried until hard |
| Tomato powder | 3 tbsp | stands in for the diced tomatoes and tomato sauce |
| Dried onion flakes | 2 tbsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp | |
| Chili powder | 1 tbsp | |
| Cumin | 1 tsp | |
| Dried oregano | 1/2 tsp | |
| Beef bouillon | 1 tsp | |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | replaces the fat you drained out at home |
Method
- Bring 600 ml of water to a boil. Dump the whole bag in and stir until the tomato powder stops clumping.
- Boil two minutes, then kill the stove and clamp the lid on.
- Let it sit fifteen minutes. Wrap the pot in a jacket if it is cold out.
- Check a sweet potato cube. If it still has a core, add a splash of hot water and give it another ten minutes.
- Stir in the oil and eat straight from the pot.
The original is a slow cooker chili with no beans in it, which makes it unusually easy to move to the trail. Beans are the thing that never rehydrates on schedule. Sweet potatoes do, as long as you dice them small before drying and give them a real soak off the heat.
The canned tomatoes and tomato sauce collapse into three tablespoons of tomato powder, which is most of the weight savings. Cook the beef at home and drain it hard before drying: fat left in the meat is what turns a bag of dried beef rancid two weeks into a resupply box. The oil you stir in at the end puts those calories back where they can’t spoil.
Packing
Everything dry goes in one quart freezer bag at home. The oil rides in a dropper bottle. Dried beef and sweet potato both want to be fully dry before they go in the bag; anything still leathery will mold.
Variations
- Ground turkey dries the same way and comes out lighter.
- Skip the beef, add 1/4 cup instant refried beans, and it goes vegetarian and thickens faster.
- A dried chipotle crumbled in gets you the fire-roasted flavor the canned tomatoes were doing.
https://www.onelovelylife.com/slow-cooker-sweet-potato-chili